The Lancet
Volume 369
An Affirming Trip
Kelly Morris
Reading Psychedelic Horizons, for me, was itself like some descriptions of a “trip”, or psychedelic experience. The initial effect, for the first few chapters, is puzzling, a state where I felt something deeper existed within the fragments being laid outimages from childhood, views of psychology, art, eastern religion, and psychedelia, naturally. Then, and I cannot quite put my finger on the exact point, there is an “a-ha!” moment where the pieces click into place, and the horizons become clear. From then on, the book unfolds aspect after aspect of original thought, leading to a brighter future viewan affirming trip.
Thomas Roberts has taught a course on psychedelics for decades, and this book is a suitable accompaniment. But, more fundamentally, he challenges swathes of current thinking by asking questions about altered states of consciousness, including those induced by psychedelics. The variety of these experiences clearly suggests our minds are multistate, and prompt further questions about the potential of these diff erent states for healing, psychology, cognitive studies, and education. The only “come down” is when he poses bioethical questions of the future, related to what he calls “mindbody psychotechnologies”. I am left wondering whether we will solve such future dilemmas as insightfully as Roberts has explored them.
UK medical journal The Lancet published a concise book review of Prof. Thomas Roberts’ book Psychedelic Horizons. Thomas “…challenges swathes of current thinking by asking questions about altered states of consciousness, including those induced by psychedelics. The variety of these experiences clearly suggests our minds are multistate, and prompt further questions about the potential of these different states for healing, psychology, cognitive studies, and education.”